The kit seems like a pretty good deal. Going by the Amazon france website the 550d goes for €499. This means that you are getting the other two lenses for €100 which is not a bad price. The Canon 18-55mm has image stabilisation. I am not sure which 70-300mm you are looking at but if it is made by Canon then all of the ones in their range have IS.

I dont think the 70-300 has IS for that price. Im almost sure to be fair, it should be one of Canon's crappy telephoto lenses. ''Bad'' or not, it's better than to start without a tele! Id get it if you have the money for it.

Ruben according to Canons UK website under the telephoto zoom section the only 70-300mm lenses available all have IS. The telephoto zooms without IS are the two 75-300mm lenses.

If the kit comes with a 70-300mm IS then this is a very good deal. I suspect it may come with one of the cheaper 75-300mm lenses which are not great but as Ruben said are worth having if you can afford it .

My advice would be to sell the car and get the 550D and a 15-85 IS lens instead. If you want a camera for general shooting this has is covered with excellent image quality. If you are into wildlife or other stuff that needs 300mm the 75-300 will disappoint. No IS and sub standard image quality.

Not sure how much change you would have out of the car but you will have a great camera.

The 550d camera itself is definitely still a great buy, and the 18-55mm kit lens is not amazing, but it certainly does do the job fine, and the T2i usually comes with the IS version.

I had the 75-300 III and it was a complete disappointment in image quality. The Tamron SP 70-300 VC USD is a much better option and offers image stabilization (which Tamron calls VC). The Canon 70-300 IS would also be a good option, but a bit more expensive than the Tamron, and its debatable which is better. The 55-250 IS is also very decent, and a bit cheaper too.

Oh yeah, that's the 75-300mm - read here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30310For that 100€ (or even a bit less) you could just as well get a used EF 100-300mm USM from eBay. Better image quality, fast ring USM, metal mount... nice lens.